DP Elegant Punk: Q&A With Hangnail Frontman Ahead of Mar 2 School Bar Gig

Elegant Punk: Q&A With Hangnail Frontman Xiao Fei Ahead of Mar 2 School Bar Gig

Kyle Mullin | Mar 2, 2018 1:00 pm | Add a comment | 2445 reads

If you close your eyes at a Hangnail show, you won't be surprised to hear pummeling percussion and steely punk riffs. But one glance at frontman Xiao Fei, and you'll swear you're at a glam rock gig. That's because the Beijing-born singer's shirts have ethereally loose, billowing sleeves, his body language borders on an angel's grace, and his bleach blonde hair all scream David Bowie far more than Glenn Danzig. But when Xiao Fei starts to sing, he lets loose screams and snarls that would better suit a monster quadruple his size.

When I show him a short WeChat video of one Hangnail's shows to get this point across, Xiao Fei just laughs and says: "Oh wow, I look stupid in that clip!" But he's likely alone in that assessment – the crowd was clearly enthralled in the video and the attendee who snapped the clip, Bill Weydig, describes the frontman as "oozing charisma."

Ahead of the band's Mar 2 gig, Xiao Fei tells us more about the unique characteristics that he brings to Hangnail.

If you say that I'm a glam rock: I can't deny it. I do look that way sometimes! I think part of being a frontman is not only singing, but also having a mission through your clothing, body language, or facial expressions. There is no rule that forces you to play hardcore music shirtless. I also believe that the same type of hardcore voice can come from a variety of people who have different looks and body types. It has nothing to do with being pure or not pure, breaking the rules or following the rules. There is no set way. If more people have this mindset, it will be the power source of the next punk Renaissance.

I have to say our band's style is very strange. Not only me, every one of us, every costume piece, all of it. At our performances, you might see a skinhead or some hardcore fashion. Sometimes one of us, and some of our fans, will come with mohawks, or you might see some glam rock spectacle [laughs]. But it does not matter, it's like our style, this is the style Hangnail.

Our band formed in early 2015. Because everybody likes old school punk and street punk, our style uses elements of both. And we hope that we can continue that mixed style, but we don't want to be confined to just those two. Sometimes our songs sound very hard and aggressive, but this is what we want, we just want to let the audience in feel our explosive way of playing.

To be honest, we aren't keen to absorb inspiration from other bands, be they foreign or local. The music that has influenced us has done so subtly. We hope that we can develop our own style, regardless of whether people think it is good or bad. If you don't like it, we can only say sorry, we don't like you! Each of us in Hangnail like different kinds of bands, but as long as it's not pop music or rap we all appreciate it.

I like every song we've written, but I want to talk about the three particular songs that best express the punk mindset: "Never Compromise", "I Don't Speak", and "Antifan". They are all anti-war, counterculture songs that reflect what our younger generation is going through. If I dare say so, it looks like we're not in the middle of a peaceful era, and this music reflects that. We are currently recording these three songs, and plan to release them as an EP this spring. They could only be heard online before, and we're excited to make them available in a new format for fans.

Last month we played a show at School call "Peking Ultras Night Kids." The aim was to combine punk culture with that of "ultras," which might be more commonly known in English as sports superfans or even football hooligans. That night I saw a lot of people from both subcultures pogoing in the crowded livehouse. And they didn't just listen when we sang our song "Never Say Die". Instead, they shouted along with us! I was so shocked, and I'll never forget it. We also saw a lot of young bands play that night. Many of their members were in their early 20's. They had so much energy, and it was great to see the younger generation chase their goals.

We want more people to support us, and we want more foreigners to know that China's capital has a good punk culture. And we want all the bullies and snooty people have looked down on us punks to know: We are not weak anymore!

Hangnail will perform at School Bar tonight, Mar 2, as part of the two-day D.O.G x School Festival. For more information, click here.